Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#261

Post by devmunchies » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:17 PM UTC

fooey wrote: post #218

xxpor wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Socially, Utah could not be more different than Seattle. SLC is one thing, but that's one small slice of a much bigger state. You'd be able to attract people who live there already, but there's 0 chance someone like me would be interested in living there. Note: I work for Amazon, but have no input at all in this process. This is the first I'm hearing about it.

I completely agree with that generalization The people who want to work for Amazon wouldn't like living in Utah, and the people living in Utah wouldn't like the people who work for Amazon I've been in tech in Southern Utah for almost 20 years, and it's extremely difficult to find qualified people. If I didn't have a house I love, and family around, I would have left a long time ago.

Southern Utah is way different/smaller than northern. Is there even a $1billion company HQ'd in southern Utah? I'm in Seattle but my company is HQ'd in Utah Valley. There is lots of tech talent in Northern Utah. Heck, Angular Conf and React Rally are in SLC every year for a reason.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#262

Post by leggomylibro » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:18 PM UTC

BatFastard wrote: post #256

leggomylibro wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about Chattanooga? It's in the same area with a rapidly-growing startup/tech scene, but it has gigabit municipal internet and a slightly cooler climate.

Chattanooga is great! Just not sure if they have the infrastructure to handle that big of a corp. And Gigbit is kinda passe by now.

Oh, I doubt they'll be worried about that. Seattle sure doesn't have the infrastructure necessary to support them!

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#263

Post by the_arun » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:20 PM UTC

SFO Bay Area - You will get everything world class. More importantly, great talent from your competitors!

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#264

Post by metaphyze » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:20 PM UTC

nathanmuller wrote: post #68

I'd argue Research Triangle Park (RTP) is better choice than Austin. Instead of using one feeder school Amazon could pull from three excellent schools: Duke University, North Carolina State University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For those that are unfamiliar RTP is a major tech center. Edit: Changed "RTP" to "Research Triangle Park" in initial comment.

I agree. There's a huge tech workforce in RTP, very good universities, affordable costs of living (which I suppose translates to affordable business property). Another indication: Take a look at the size of the Triangle AWS Meetup group on Meetup.com. It has 879 members.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#265

Post by peterkshultz » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:21 PM UTC

clavalle wrote: post #138

Thinking about what cities should lay out the red carpet, if I were a city official in, say, St. Louis or Detroit, I'd be putting together an incentive plan worth billions. Amazon could turn around an entire mid-size city.

Amazon announced plans to open up a Detroit tech office a few years ago [1].

[1]: http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2015/09/2...

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#266

Post by nugget » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:22 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #248

adventured wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when does the US not have money for healthcare and higher education? We spend more on both per capita than any other nation on earth. We don't have money for high speed rail? Sure we do, we spend $7 trillion per year on government - 37% of our economy goes to government. Pick your priorities.

> We spend more on both per capita than any other nation on earth. Why are there tens of millions that can't afford higher education? Why are people going bankrupt from health expenses? The USA is just really bad at it. Therefore you need to spend more money just to come up to par with other developed countries. In that case, you need more tax revenue.

> Why are there tens of millions that can't afford higher education?

Tuition at the highly-rated community college near my house is $1,500 per semester. It's expensive to go away to a residential 4 year private university, but there are many other options out there.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#267

Post by nkassis » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:22 PM UTC

devmunchies wrote: post #194

SaintGhurka wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if SLC would be disqualified because it would harm rather than help Amazon's diversity efforts.

Not building an HQ somewhere because of race sounds like racism to me. This is the problem with considering race at all for hiring decisions. Race != diversity. If their diversity efforts are for the sake of new thinking, it would benefit their diversity efforts. If their diversity efforts stop at skin color, then yeah, you are right.

I think it's fine to consider attractiveness to a diverse workforce. It's not racism to pick a city that is more diverse than another. It just says we want to make it attractive to the most different type of people possible. It's not just race, other factors make SLC possibly less attractive to minority groups beyond race. And to be fair I don't know how true those concerns are for SLC just making a general point that considering diversity and location isn't a problem

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#268

Post by ceedan » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:23 PM UTC

jamesie wrote: post #178

What city would you move to so you can work at HQ2?

DC Area

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#269

Post by passivepinetree » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:23 PM UTC

libria wrote: post #26

Why I wonder? While they're gobbling up DT Sea, they only have 1 building in Bellevue. Isn't there room to set up shop in Fremont or Kirkland and poach more engineers from Microsoft/Tableau/Expedia etc and reducing commute times? Not seeing the upside. This is a major management overhead, managing culture between both, all hands, IT infrastructure. Austin, TX is a good candidate. Very strong engineering university at…

Perhaps they're working to help recruiting. It might be easier to attract top talent in a different area (for example, if they situated in Pittsburgh as another commenter mentioned, they could more easily recruit CMU grads/professors).

It also can't hurt their business to reduce their dependency on a single state/local government's policies.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#270

Post by metaphyze » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:24 PM UTC

metaphyze wrote: post #264

nathanmuller wrote: post #68

I'd argue Research Triangle Park (RTP) is better choice than Austin. Instead of using one feeder school Amazon could pull from three excellent schools: Duke University, North Carolina State University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For those that are unfamiliar RTP is a major tech center. Edit: Changed "RTP" to "Research Triangle Park" in initial comment.

I agree. There's a huge tech workforce in RTP, very good universities, affordable costs of living (which I suppose translates to affordable business property). Another indication: Take a look at the size of the Triangle AWS Meetup group on Meetup.com. It has 879 members.

I've been to Pittsburgh too, and I do think that a possibility. One advantage that Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill has over Pittsburgh is weather. Amazon is very fault-tolerant minded. There's not much chance they'd need to close the facility in Raleigh because of a blizzard (although it has happened a few rare times).